So what is John 3:16 to you? Good News or Bad News. I would have said good just a few years ago. Today I see this passage very differently.
If Hitler were to have written something on this order: for Germany has so loved the whole world that it gave one of it sons {Hitler} to establish the Aryan race once and for all as the primary race, that whoever is of the Ayran race will enjoy the benefits of the best in life and whoever is not a part well . . . we got concentration camps for you....would this then be good news or bad news?
It should not be news at all. The only slight difficulty is we cannot wash our minds of the images of emasculated stacked bodies, or curling smoke from incinerators, or heaps of ashes! In that milieu, in that time period, in Germany at that time, there were the awful consequences of xenophobia. The out-group was destroyed. Literally!
There is a similar horrible reality in the much less lovely words of: "that whosoever believeth in in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." It's the stated "perish" contrasted to "everlasting life" that make for a "hidden" (depends of which you mind you are) threat to those who might now see things in light of John 3:16. Perish is quickly glossed over and the "love" of God is emphasized in the act of "child sacrifice" -- only son ---or since god cannot figure out for himself if he's one person or three then either "murder" or "suicide" is being touted. All, any shape this passage takes on, whose who, is so very revolting to me.
Of course from my vantage point now, I'd like to laugh it all off and say, "fool" to whoever would be stupid enough to believe such a thing. I used to preach this as "Good News". This topic of the "Bad New", less I make to much out John 3:16 has been the topic of a discussion between myself and a liberal evangelical believer. This believer is honest enough to admit that possibly "parts" of the Bible are made up....the admission is actually a start.
I've been been pushing heavily the physiological implications of the literal interpretation of John 3:16. Whoever originated the idea did a great service to man-kind when they said the best book to hand a believer in God is the Bible. "Read the Bible." If one will really read it and understand what is says without superimposing dogmas over what the bible says, then this is a moot statement. Eventually the reader will come to the conclusion that someone or somebodies are pulling their proverbial leg.
Read the Book of Mormon, or Read the Watch Tower. Read the Koran. If these be fabricated ideas of goolish, sour old-men hunched over dimly lit writing desks in musty monasteries, meticulously copying each word at a time; what of the wild look in the eye of the author of the most quoted passage, at least in modern times: "For God so loved the world . . . ."?
If it were not for indoctrination, and being taught how the bible should be read, well then the admissions to do so might have had a better effect on me personally, and much sooner. I know I've read the "Bad Book" at least 16 times, word for word. I distracted myself with years of personal study within the safety of my doctrinal cocoon. In fact by the standard of some I mined the "precious" truths to market to others.
The indoctrinated live in a pseudo reality. So the wonderful benefit of breaking my self-delusion by reading the Book was lost on me for 30 years. Read the Bible when admonished by a pastor must be different from a psychologist stating the same thing. When "read the Bible" is admonished to a person born into the culture of the Bible-Believing church, it presents a unique paradox: the Bible is actually believed. It's actually taken literally. The mind reads with the indoctrination in place and makes it say things that are never noted by an non-indoctrinated person.
I skipped the exclusive claims of this passage and many other passages for years because I'd been indoctrinated to read the sacred scriptures with fear and trembling. I was early on instructed to not lean to my own understanding. Whatever was not of faith was sin. "Not of Faith" somehow translated out to: "to think for myself is sin". The fear of judgment is a paramount topic for all Bible readers indoctrinate in the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom".
So we disassociated ourselves from more evident contradictions in the bible. The mislabeling of "false prophet" was freely applied to anyone raising legitimate questions. So the lucid thinking of more liberal bible scholars was shut out as the voice of Satan. Any living pieces of evidence uncovered in archaeological digs (more often selectively chosen finds that were supportive the majority view point) were thrown out as non-trust-able and "reasoning after the flesh". We exchanged liberty for death. Fifteen years ago I would have more readily listen to a sermon on the torments of hell--an equivalent rendition to watching the sordid plight of the Holocaust victims--then crack open a book authored by a non-christian. I and my kin closed out the very voice of reason in exchange for living in mortal terror of misbehaving in the sight of a all-knowing and all-seeing boogieman.
We could question weather or not any good could come of trying to turn off the switch of "eternal damnation" for the bible-believer. There is a reaction of fear. Don't say that. Don't think these thoughts. Don't destroy the "good". Really? Good by whose definition? Can any thing be destroy which is non-exist? Of course . . . . God does exist in the mind of the Bible-Believer--therefore the hesitation to consider reality.
For me, the the passage referred to is simply a ticking-bomb especially for those who choose to believe. (Hopefully we can keep out of office the true believer who would twist "love" into pulling the switch on the US nuclear arsenal) Was there any role this sordid twisted "For God so loved the world" that played in the subconscious minds of the German peoples seventy years ago?
What damnation must await a person like myself who "knew the way" and turned to "darkness". It boggles my mind to remember how I once viewed healthy thinking individuals like myself. But once again there's nothing to fear if the "bad news" is just this: a fairy tale. Grimms' tales are also gruesome, but they do not keep me up at night or in mortal terror of the destiny of my soul.
That which might merit some fear would be the stringent requirements on the bounds of human consciousness that this passage alone demands. My concern might be legitimatized over the bad news implications for those that do believe!
Believer. John 3:16 makes the unavoidable demand upon you to disregard your own opinions of whether it's right or wrong for millions, perhaps billions of people to be lost. The passage clearly states if you don't believe you're lost, that one will exist in the eternal death based on information that makes no sense....you're going to be "perished" if you don't believe, what if you simply don't have the moral capacity to swallow such insanity?... In my estimation this is a damned if you do damned if you don't passage.
I for one no longer relish with smug revenge the torments of the lost! I revolt at the idea of my having had such a proclivity in my Christian experience. I no longer wish for my consciousness being so altered in "eternal life" so as to be able to enjoy the writhing of the eternally damned as I enjoy the cool breezes of God's presence in heaven eternally. Something about this graphic image in my mind causes me much revulsion.
The old interstate signs should have been signed "hate-mail"! Folks as begin as it might seem to a cursory glance. John 3:16 might have done us much more good had it never been published.
If Hitler were to have written something on this order: for Germany has so loved the whole world that it gave one of it sons {Hitler} to establish the Aryan race once and for all as the primary race, that whoever is of the Ayran race will enjoy the benefits of the best in life and whoever is not a part well . . . we got concentration camps for you....would this then be good news or bad news?
It should not be news at all. The only slight difficulty is we cannot wash our minds of the images of emasculated stacked bodies, or curling smoke from incinerators, or heaps of ashes! In that milieu, in that time period, in Germany at that time, there were the awful consequences of xenophobia. The out-group was destroyed. Literally!
There is a similar horrible reality in the much less lovely words of: "that whosoever believeth in in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." It's the stated "perish" contrasted to "everlasting life" that make for a "hidden" (depends of which you mind you are) threat to those who might now see things in light of John 3:16. Perish is quickly glossed over and the "love" of God is emphasized in the act of "child sacrifice" -- only son ---or since god cannot figure out for himself if he's one person or three then either "murder" or "suicide" is being touted. All, any shape this passage takes on, whose who, is so very revolting to me.
Of course from my vantage point now, I'd like to laugh it all off and say, "fool" to whoever would be stupid enough to believe such a thing. I used to preach this as "Good News". This topic of the "Bad New", less I make to much out John 3:16 has been the topic of a discussion between myself and a liberal evangelical believer. This believer is honest enough to admit that possibly "parts" of the Bible are made up....the admission is actually a start.
I've been been pushing heavily the physiological implications of the literal interpretation of John 3:16. Whoever originated the idea did a great service to man-kind when they said the best book to hand a believer in God is the Bible. "Read the Bible." If one will really read it and understand what is says without superimposing dogmas over what the bible says, then this is a moot statement. Eventually the reader will come to the conclusion that someone or somebodies are pulling their proverbial leg.
Read the Book of Mormon, or Read the Watch Tower. Read the Koran. If these be fabricated ideas of goolish, sour old-men hunched over dimly lit writing desks in musty monasteries, meticulously copying each word at a time; what of the wild look in the eye of the author of the most quoted passage, at least in modern times: "For God so loved the world . . . ."?
If it were not for indoctrination, and being taught how the bible should be read, well then the admissions to do so might have had a better effect on me personally, and much sooner. I know I've read the "Bad Book" at least 16 times, word for word. I distracted myself with years of personal study within the safety of my doctrinal cocoon. In fact by the standard of some I mined the "precious" truths to market to others.
The indoctrinated live in a pseudo reality. So the wonderful benefit of breaking my self-delusion by reading the Book was lost on me for 30 years. Read the Bible when admonished by a pastor must be different from a psychologist stating the same thing. When "read the Bible" is admonished to a person born into the culture of the Bible-Believing church, it presents a unique paradox: the Bible is actually believed. It's actually taken literally. The mind reads with the indoctrination in place and makes it say things that are never noted by an non-indoctrinated person.
I skipped the exclusive claims of this passage and many other passages for years because I'd been indoctrinated to read the sacred scriptures with fear and trembling. I was early on instructed to not lean to my own understanding. Whatever was not of faith was sin. "Not of Faith" somehow translated out to: "to think for myself is sin". The fear of judgment is a paramount topic for all Bible readers indoctrinate in the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom".
So we disassociated ourselves from more evident contradictions in the bible. The mislabeling of "false prophet" was freely applied to anyone raising legitimate questions. So the lucid thinking of more liberal bible scholars was shut out as the voice of Satan. Any living pieces of evidence uncovered in archaeological digs (more often selectively chosen finds that were supportive the majority view point) were thrown out as non-trust-able and "reasoning after the flesh". We exchanged liberty for death. Fifteen years ago I would have more readily listen to a sermon on the torments of hell--an equivalent rendition to watching the sordid plight of the Holocaust victims--then crack open a book authored by a non-christian. I and my kin closed out the very voice of reason in exchange for living in mortal terror of misbehaving in the sight of a all-knowing and all-seeing boogieman.
We could question weather or not any good could come of trying to turn off the switch of "eternal damnation" for the bible-believer. There is a reaction of fear. Don't say that. Don't think these thoughts. Don't destroy the "good". Really? Good by whose definition? Can any thing be destroy which is non-exist? Of course . . . . God does exist in the mind of the Bible-Believer--therefore the hesitation to consider reality.
For me, the the passage referred to is simply a ticking-bomb especially for those who choose to believe. (Hopefully we can keep out of office the true believer who would twist "love" into pulling the switch on the US nuclear arsenal) Was there any role this sordid twisted "For God so loved the world" that played in the subconscious minds of the German peoples seventy years ago?
What damnation must await a person like myself who "knew the way" and turned to "darkness". It boggles my mind to remember how I once viewed healthy thinking individuals like myself. But once again there's nothing to fear if the "bad news" is just this: a fairy tale. Grimms' tales are also gruesome, but they do not keep me up at night or in mortal terror of the destiny of my soul.
That which might merit some fear would be the stringent requirements on the bounds of human consciousness that this passage alone demands. My concern might be legitimatized over the bad news implications for those that do believe!
Believer. John 3:16 makes the unavoidable demand upon you to disregard your own opinions of whether it's right or wrong for millions, perhaps billions of people to be lost. The passage clearly states if you don't believe you're lost, that one will exist in the eternal death based on information that makes no sense....you're going to be "perished" if you don't believe, what if you simply don't have the moral capacity to swallow such insanity?... In my estimation this is a damned if you do damned if you don't passage.
I for one no longer relish with smug revenge the torments of the lost! I revolt at the idea of my having had such a proclivity in my Christian experience. I no longer wish for my consciousness being so altered in "eternal life" so as to be able to enjoy the writhing of the eternally damned as I enjoy the cool breezes of God's presence in heaven eternally. Something about this graphic image in my mind causes me much revulsion.
The old interstate signs should have been signed "hate-mail"! Folks as begin as it might seem to a cursory glance. John 3:16 might have done us much more good had it never been published.
Comments
Post a Comment
Speak your mind.....